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It's been over eleven years since Russia conquered Crimea from Ukraine. It's been over three years since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is the latter event that seems to have shaken and stirred the politics of Europe.
Germany had been mostly opposed to transferring any weapons to Ukraine. After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the politics of Germany changed. During the Cold War, the Green Party of Germany was among the most dovish political parties. Today, the Green party will discuss in detail the capabilities of various German-made weapons systems and support providing weapons to Ukraine.
It is in Finland, perhaps, where political change has been most dramatic. In 2017, about one-fifth of Finns wanted to join NATO and about 53 percent of Finns did not want to join that transatlantic organization.
Yle poll: Only a fifth of Finns back NATO membership | Yle
By November 2022, 9 months after Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 78 percent of Finns wanted to join NATO.
Finnish Support For NATO Membership Rises To 78 Percent, Poll Shows
The President of Finland put it this way:
"There’s a reason why we have over 60 F-18s. We just bought 64 F-35s. There’s a reason why we have long-range missiles, air, land and sea. And there’s a reason why we have the biggest artillery in Europe, with Poland. And the reason is not Sweden."
The drawback of so-called foreign policy realism is that it often fails to take into consideration the character of the countries in the international system. Finland does not fear a Swedish invasion, a Polish invasion. It doesn't fear a French or German invasion.
It does fear a Russian invasion and has prepared accordingly.
A wise foreign policy takes into consideration whether a country is democratic, such that its leaders are held accountable by the citizens of the country or if the country is a dictatorship in which the dictator can use the resources of his country as he sees fit.
The problem with foreign policy realism is that it is not realistic, said the Foreign Minister of Poland.
Discussion (12)
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Nobody really believes “realism”-if they did they wouldn’t bother to try to justify their actions. Hit or rob a realist and he will get indignant b/c even he believes that he was wronged.
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I would like to see the exact quote someday. It might help me with my Polish vocabulary. Also, it is very much like the sort of thing I like to say in English: "The problem with pragmatism is it doesn't work."
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It was said in a debate the Polish Foreign Minister had with John Mearsheimer in Canada a few years ago.
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Mearsheimer would have been a good person to be told that.
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This is the debate, in case you want to watch it.
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